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Aug. 22, 2008 4:12 p.m. CarKid1989 New Reader

Ok, so i have been autoXing my Miata this whole summer.

1994 miata. 150,256 miles. Flyin Miata suspension with Tociko Illuminas. sumitomo htr200 tires.

I also did a cam swap (exintake) cause this is daily driven and i thought it would be fun.

It sucks. Im in SM2.

everyone has a supercharger and race tires. I have neither.

This winter im going back to a stock cam and dropping down classes.

I have been running last or almost last all the time, but my driving as greatly improved. ( i let other miata guys drive my car that are really competative and i get really close to their times) so im super happy for that. I found a setup for my suspension and tire pressure. full soft in fron and full hard in back. fronts at 35 psi. rear either 35-40. Throttle life oversteer:) the car understeers a lot. (adjust swaybars?)

Anyhow thanks for everyones help for my questions. Miatas are a hoot. i find myself just driving to drive. at least 250 miles a week joyriding. its great.

Anyone else AUTOX on street tires?
Aug. 22, 2008 5:30 p.m. fiat22turbo SuperDork

Yep, my 87 CSX in STS. Good times, usually mid-pack finish but due to consistency, I'm 3rd in points for the year-end championship, 1 point behind second place with two more events to go!

I'm building a more serious motor, among other things, over the winter. The car will be running R-comps next year as it won't be legal for STS any longer.

Understeer may just be you driving the car too hard, turning in too early (a common problem for many) Seems that running softer shocks in the front may be hindering you. If you get a chance, you might try going up one or two in the front just to see if it helps.

I would probably ask the competitors in the class you will run in next year if they would mind if you ran with them. Make sure you compare times before hand and let them know that you're just starting out and won't be competitive. Also you may be able to run Time Only, so the classing doesn't matter, it is just you and the clock.
Aug. 23, 2008 12:13 a.m. MCarp22 New Reader

CarKid1989 wrote: Anyone else AUTOX on street tires?

Been doing it for almost a decade now. Going to be running my '90 in STS2 next season once i get some cash and get the car sorted for daily driving.
Aug. 27, 2008 11:17 p.m. CarKid1989 New Reader

an issue came up. the PO installed a Magnaflow 3.25 catback exhaust. The resonator rattles. A lot.

Do i get a new resonator and weld it in or just toss an a glasspack in the resonators place
Aug. 27, 2008 11:26 p.m. Keith SuperDork

My theory of autocross? Build a fun car to drive and race it wherever it ends up. After the first run, you'll know who your competition is and that's now who you have to beat. Doesn't matter what class they're in. We don't really pay any attention to classes in my local autox series, we just get as many runs as possible.

As for setup, I usually run my Illuminas at around 2 or 3 front and rear with our springs. Set the sways up on the middle hole in the rear and the outside hole in the front - then just leave the car alone and drive it. Don't adjust it for the first year. You'll learn more if you have a consistent platform to drive instead of changing the car.

This is just my own particular philosophy of autocrossing, and may or may not be valid. I might be a big fish around the cones locally, but it's a really small pond.
Aug. 27, 2008 11:28 p.m. ReverendDexter New Reader

Yeah, I'm on street tires... too poor to have a set of r-compounds and a second set of wheels.

Honestly, I'm really glad that my local autocross doesn't use SCCA classing. The place I used to did, and I had my SR5 Corolla bumped up into some rediculous class because I chose to spend $100 replacing my 250k-mile bushings with polyurethane instead of spending the $450+ for rubber (okay, so that was the TRD set, but still). Mind you, I was on all-season mud&snow tires.

Where I am now they have their own classing system, and it only takes three things into account: number of cylinders, aspiration, and whether you're on street or race tires. I can understand needing all the classing at the national level, but it really sapped a lot of the fun out at the locals.
Aug. 28, 2008 12:25 a.m. Keith SuperDork

We used to use NASA classing until I got a phone call from NASA telling me we needed to be a sanctioned NASA club, which would raise our costs dramatically and bring no benefit other than no more phone calls from NASA telling us not to use their classes. But I like the way their classing works.
Aug. 28, 2008 9:06 a.m. iceracer Reader

When my club, AMEC, was doing auto cross's we got permission from NASA to use there classification. The only requirement was to mention that we were using their rules.
Aug. 28, 2008 9:12 a.m. Keith SuperDork

I guess one of the karting orgs got sued because an unrelated group was using their regulations (safety regs, perhaps?) and so NASA's not happy with that sort of arrangement anymore. Anyhow, we're a bit off the subject here.

I autocrossed on street tires exclusively for years. Now, I'll run on whatever I have handy. That tends to be RA1s more often than not, but in the past year I've competed on Kumho 711s and Yokohama A008s as well.
Aug. 28, 2008 9:30 a.m. jstein77 HalfDork

My theory on autocrossing is to keep the car stock and use the money you saved from not buying speed parts on the extra rims and R compounds. I bought the cheapest stock size rims I could find (ASA JS1 @ $117 ea.) and a set of Kuhmo's, now at $191. Total investment = $1232. Now you can fight for top PAX.
Aug. 28, 2008 7:24 p.m. CarKid1989 New Reader

outside hole? the one closer to the front or back?

can you do that with the factory endlinks?
Aug. 29, 2008 5:39 a.m. ZOOMiata Dork

In autox, the only competition is yourself. Unless other people are driving your car :)

Seriously, go with what Keith said -- look for driver's with similar times to you, regardless of class, and have fun with them.
Aug. 29, 2008 7:12 a.m. Storz HalfDork

I agree with what everyone is saying, I've always just done what I wanted to my cars and run whatever class they end up in.
Aug. 29, 2008 10:05 a.m. mistanfo Dork

If I had the money, I might build a car to the rules. However, there always seems to be something that gets me. Like my hatred of airbags in Miatas. So, out comes the factory wheel, and in goes my Sparco, with a quick release, since I happen to have gotten one with the used wheel. I will admit, it does put the wheel closer to my body, which I like, but it keeps me out of STS2... So, I get a co-driver, and we see who does better.
Aug. 29, 2008 11:14 a.m. Keith SuperDork

CarKid1989 wrote:

outside hole? the one closer to the front or back?

can you do that with the factory endlinks?

The one furthest from the bend in the bar. On the front bar, that would be the hole nearest the back. You may not be able to reach it with the factory end links, they get an attitude sometimes.
Aug. 29, 2008 11:38 a.m. Salanis Dork

You don't need to beat the people in your class, just your friend who thinks he's hot stuff because of how much more he spent on his car than you.
Aug. 29, 2008 12:44 p.m. rustysteel None

I've been running my 02' Civic for about 2and half years (started halfway through one season). Started off completely stock with 15" rims and Canadian Tire pedators (treadwear 400!). I now have a RSX type S rear sway bar and worn to slicks RA1's. I've gone from mid pack to 1st or second in our local Solo's. Being the unloved EM2 Civic, I'm enjoying being competitive but really just having great fun.